Which DVB-T card/device should I buy?

We often get asked questions along the lines of: Which card/device gives the best picture? Which is best? Etc.

While these are legitimate questions, there is no single universal answer. It would be foolish for us to say this or that is best! What is best for you may not be best for someone else.

We believe the only way to determine what is best for you is to compare what you expect from a Digital TV tuner
device, against what each card (or more precisely each solution) has to offer
and your budget.

It is for this reason that we have chosen to sell what we consider are amongst the most likely “best”
value candidates and offer them to our customers.

We have no interest in pushing one particular brand over the other. We want you to make an informed decision, a decision that you will be happy to live with. Accordingly we have developed this page to try an assist you do that.

Some basic points.

All DVB-T PCI/e Cards and USB devices we sell perform the same basic functions of tuning in channels, passing the information to the software which in turn does its job and sends the video to the video card and audio to the sound card, via the PCI
or USB bus.

The video card is responsible for scaling and displaying the video on a PC monitor or other display device connected to the PC.

The sound card can either send the audio directly to the speakers or pass it through to a receiver/amplifier for processing.

(note HDTV and SDTV are on the same frequencies and
all devices can receive both SDTV and HDTV broadcasts, the
main issue with some competitors devices is that the
decoders used can not handle HDTV or AC3 audio)

What differentiates the performance of our cards is almost entirely due to
the features of each card. The decision of which card to buy should therefore be made on the basis of
the hardware features and Interface (eg PCI, PCI-e,
USB2, dual tuner, AV inputs).

USB2 Devices

There is basically no difference in the performance of
USB2 devices (note USB 1.1 can not handle HDTV broadcasts) compared to PCI versions, the choice is usually
dependent on whether you wish to have an internal solution
(install and forget) with no boxes hanging around the
desktop, or you are happy to have device outside your
desktop, but with the advantage of being able to use them
with a notebook or move them easily to another PC without
having to open up your PC case, etc.

We have chosen to market three versions of the single
tuner USB2
device, a very small traditional can tuner - the
Tubestick
Receiver which is very well supported under all
platforms (having Mac, Linux, WDM, 64 bit and BDA
drivers), the USB Hybrid, which supports both digital
and analogue TV (with analogue inputs) and an another
Australian first release theDabby
the first Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB+) device released in
Australia

Choosing between them is really a matter of deciding
of whether you need the analogue TV support, Digital TV or
Digital Audio
will do.

For those requiring Dual Tuner external solution, we have
developed the TinyTwin, two tuner in a very small pen-drive
type housing, using only one RF input and one USB2 port.

PCI/e Based Multiple tuners

Following extensive research and field testing with
multiple tuner tuner solutions, we have developed a number
of dual tuner solutions using the PCI-express interface and
one Quad (4 DVB-T) tuners solution to satisfy the needs of
our customers.

One tuner or multiple tuners?

Multiple tuner of course!

With prices of dual digital tuners now so
low, a dual tuner is the standard way to go, as it will
allow you to watch one channel, while record another or
record two at the same time.

iDevices?

With the advent of the Apple iPhone, iPad and the strong
growth in tablets (both iOS and Android based), we have had
a lot of enquiries from our customers for devices that can
be used to watch and record Digital TV on such devices.
Accordingly we have decided to market TV tuners that work on
the iPhone and iPad starting with the
iDTV tuner.

Other devices (inclduding for Android tablets and smart
phones) will follow soon.

We
Got You Covered

We believe we have got a Digital TV device to suit your
needs, whatever they are. The following information might
help you choose the best solution for your situation.